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NATAL
is a medium-sized city of about 600,000 people, built on the banks of the Rio Potengi, and founded sixty years later than planned, after the Potiguar Indians stifled the first Portuguese landing on the coast in 1538. They continued to hold the invaders off until 1598, when the Portuguese built the star-shaped fort at the mouth of the river - the city's most enduring landmark. Natal is at the heart of one of the most spectacular strings of beaches in the Northeast: in fact, given that you could rent a beach buggy in Genipabu, just north of Natal, and drive along 250km of dunes uninterrupted until Areia Branca, practically on the border with CearE, Natal is at one end of what amounts to a single enormous beach.
Stranded at the eastern tip of the Northeast, away from the main international tourist routes, and with little industry to provide employment, Natal has lately been developing tourist facilities with the desperation of a place with few other economic options. It's become a popular destination for Brazilian holiday-makers, lured by the sun and sand rather than the city itself, which is mostly modern and has a sloppily developed seafront: you will look in vain for the colonial elegance of JoEo Pessoa or Olinda. But the glorious beaches do compensate, and amid the development and hotels there are some good nightspots and
dancetarias.
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